SCALING UP THE
POWER OF WETLANDSWETLANDS INTERNATIONALSTRATEGIC INTENT, 2020-2030

Contents

FOREWORD
Wetlands International’s work shows how healthy wetlands
can help solve the global challenges of climate change, humanhealth, biodiversity and water security. Their inspiration,knowledge and experience is vital to achieve wetland recovery
in all regions. But to make a global difference, massive upscalingis needed over tens of millions of hectares in the coming decade.
This Strategy includes a global agenda for wetland recovery anda plan to harness the collective will of diverse stakeholders toaccelerate action and bring lasting returns for people and nature.
Time is short and the challenge is great - please join us!

Introducing Wetlands International’s Strategic Intent 2020-2030

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Why wetlands matter and the case for urgent action

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Wetlands and their values

8

What is needed to bring about this change?

10

Making the change

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A global network organisation dedicated to wetlands

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Proposed global targets for wetland recovery

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Realising change for wetlands

21

What we will contribute23

Our theory of change

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Our strategic framework

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Introducing stream-specific strategies
Coasts and Deltas
Rivers and Lakes
Peatlands

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47
63

From strategy to action

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André van der Zande, Chair, Wetlands International

The Inner Niger Delta in Mali is home to two million farmers, fishers and herders
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INTRODUCING WETLANDSINTERNATIONAL’S STRATEGICINTENT 2020-2030
Bringing wetlands back into a healthier condition on a large scale will transform
lives and livelihoods. With water sources and stores intact, we can recover
freshwater supplies and withstand unpredictable rains. Cities will become cooler
and wild fires less likely. Crop production and fisheries can recover and diversify
as biodiversity and water flows will be restored. Coastal settlements and cities
can be safe from the impacts of storms and sea-level rise. Climate change willslow down as carbon is locked up in wetlands. People’s spirit will be enriched andrefreshed by nature that is flourishing once again.

This knowledge on the
power of wetlands drives
our agenda. We feel
responsible to establish
a bold plan to inspire
and mobilise society
to this end. Hence weadjusted our mission toreflect this role and haveset out a strategy forthis decade which is allabout upscaling.
This 10-year global Strategic Intent is thehighest level guide to our work. It sets out our
ambitions and targets for what we can achieve,
alongside others, to improve the conditionof wetlands for people and nature. We havetaken into account the most relevant trends

can contribute to build resilience and stimulate
green recovery at scale.
Our strategy has benefitted from consultation
with hundreds of our stakeholders. The
additional emphasis that we have given on
nature-based solutions, climate change,
resilience, human security, wetland carbon andinfrastructure was supported in all regions. We
have also been strongly encouraged to be bold
and ambitious and to become more visible andinfluential, whilst remaining loyal to our roots.

The direction set out in this document istranslated through regional and national
strategies and action plans, as well as
programmes of work in the main wetland
landscapes where we work. We will report on
our progress through “The Source”, our annual
review.
I am grateful to all those who have helped to
inform and shape this Strategic Intent and lookforward to collaborate to turn it into action.
Jane Madgwick
Chief Executive Officer

and challenges as well as enablers for positivechange. We have designed our strategies
according to what our organisation can best
contribute, working with others. We aim to marry
the advantage of our local presence, extensive
technical experience and partnerships with ourability to influence global dialogues, policies
and investments. We recognise that to achieve
our ambitions, our organisation will need to
grow and further professionalise in all regions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has alerted theworld to the urgent need to establish a new
relationship with nature. One that combines
improving human well-being, including healthand livelihoods with regenerating nature andnatural processes. Our work shows how, witha little help, people can transform their lives
and environment at a local level and how thisSummer on the Ruoergai Plateau, China. This wetland has been brought back to life.
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WHY WETLANDSMATTER AND THE
CASE FOR URGENTACTION
2019 saw fires rage across Indonesia, the Pantanal and the Arctic with a devastating effect on wildlife,
nature and people. Attention is now turning to fire prevention through the rewetting of drained peatlands.

Wherever land meets water, life abounds. In every country and all
climatic zones, from polar regions to the tropics, and from the highest
mountains to the oceans, wetlands provide natural resources for natureand people. Rivers, lakes, bogs, marshes, deltas, floodplains, flooded
forests, mangroves, saltmarshes, coral reefs and even rice-fields, arehome to 40% of the world’s species. They are vital for people too.
Wetland communities and many others depend on them directly andindirectly for food, water, medicines, fuel and income from wildlife
tourism. Wetlands also play vital roles in maintaining ecologicalprocesses. They are the physical connectors between terrestrial andmarine environments. They capture and store rainwater, regulate riverflows and sedimentation, help replenish groundwater, and capture andstore carbon. In short, they are crucial part of the planetary support
system.

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Over the past fifty years, wetlands havedrastically diminished in both area and theircapacity to support life. In the name of boosting
crop and livestock production, exploitingenergy reserves and making way for urban
development, rivers have been dammed anddiverted, while wetlands have been diked anddrained. The impacts have been severe. The
shrinkage and fragmentation of wetlands anddisruption of ecological processes has resulted
in massive and accelerating biodiversity loss,
water and food shortages, devastating floods
and fires, coastal subsidence and erosion. This inturn has undermined wetland-based economies,
put urban areas in peril, and made some ofthe poorest communities more vulnerable,
triggering outmigration and resource conflicts.
All this exacerbates, and in many places is being
exacerbated by, climate change.
We have a global problem, deserving global
solutions. The choices we make now for
wetlands are crucial to avoiding the mostdevastating impacts on people, nature andplanetary processes.
The science is clear and the social and economic

cases for recovering wetlands are powerful.
Wetlands offer effective nature-based solutions
to global problems. But environmental
protection of wetland sites is not sufficientsince the fluidity of water means that effective
action requires coordination across landscapesand national boundaries. Even so, by stepping
up action to safeguard and restore wetlands
we can save nature, better capture and store
water, improve food security through sustaining
agriculture and fisheries, keep carbon outof the atmosphere, and safeguard cities andsettlements from the worst impacts of floods
and droughts.
Technological solutions framed aroundhydrology, ecology and economic analysis
of ecosystem services will not work alone,
however. People matter too. The relational
values between people and wetlands mustcome to the fore. By recognising the links
between wetlands and cultural identity, andby focusing on the spiritual and quality-of-life
returns from wetland restoration, as well as theecological returns, it will be possible to heal andre-set our relationship with wetlands and build
momentum for their recovery.

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Wetlands andtheir values
Wetlands are ecosystems which occur
wherever land and water meet. They exist in
every country across the world and every typeof region – polar, tropical, wet, dry, high andlow altitude. Wetlands take various forms andare highly dynamic, connecting mountains tothe sea.
The values of both coastal and inland wetland
ecosystems to society and the economy are thehighest of any ecosystem type.
Acting as the water sources, sinks andregulators, the “health” of wetlands affects
the quantity and quality of water available forour use in every landscape. In other words,
wetlands control our water security – widely
regarded as the key natural resource challenge
facing humanity.

Wetlands and their Values
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WHAT IS NEEDEDTO BRING ABOUTTHIS CHANGE?

MAKING THE CHANGE
From the growing engagement of civil society in environmental issues to the riseof corporate sustainability ambition, we can build on the momentum of existing
movements and global agreements.
Civil society on the march:
The recent growth of environmental activism
driven by youth has captured the attention ofwider civil society and political and businessleaders alike, making action on ecosystemdecline and climate change a higher politicalpriority. Innovative solutions and collaborations
are receiving institutional support as neverbefore. The cultural change is such that
employers need a good environmental
reputation to attract the best young professional
recruits.
In this environment, there are a growing
number of alliances of NGOs, governments andthe private sector, working on how to better

The short answer is a lot. To reach suchgoals will require an enormous upscaling ofconservation and restoration activity, based ona transformation of how we conceive wetlands,
and how activities in and around them areoperationalised, financed and governed. This
will in turn require innovative policy alignments
across different ministries, economic sectors
and disciplines, as well as novel financing
mechanisms and increased technical capacity ingovernments, businesses and civil society.
It will require new thinking about smart
combinations of wetland conservation andwater utilisation – operating dams to maintainwetlands as well as generate hydroelectricity,turning aquaculture ponds into hybrid coastal

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manage and restore ecosystems, including
wetlands. For us, this provides many newopportunities to focus our knowledge, networks
and resources towards our goals, such as
peatland restoration or nature-based coastal
protection. The ultimate effectiveness of these
alliances will, we believe, often depend on
the voices of those most affected by changes
to wetlands, especially wetland communities,
being both heard and heeded. In this respect,
the increase in community-based organisations
and organised networks of women’s groups andindigenous peoples, and their focus on cultural,environmental and resource-rights issues, is an
important trend.

wetlands, and using natural systems rather thanconcrete to solve problems such as flooding, toname three examples.
The resilience of freshwater systems needs
to be a touchstone for policymaking. So will
the needs and values of local communities,
particularly those living in and around wetlands.
Beyond such considerations, and shaping
everything, the necessary transformation will
require a root-and-branch change of societal
views about wetlands, a clear break fromthe common perception of them as dumping
grounds and backwaters, places for themarginalised, and ripe for privatisation andexploitation, drainage and “development”. That,above all, needs to change.

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Leveraging public-private partnerships:
Companies are under increasing pressure
from shareholders, regulators, customers andtheir own employees to be accountable for
their social and environmental performance.
Global policy signals from major financing
organisations are helping to drive this change.
An increasing number of development projects
are required to comply with international
standards, and more companies commit toadhere to them.

Youth in the Saloum Delta are increasingly interested in safeguarding mangroves and many ofthem are part of mangrove conservation clubs.

Pursuing UN goals:
The restoration of healthy, functioning wetlands
is increasingly seen as essential for theachievement of a range of global development
and climate goals, including several Sustainable
Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on
climate change, the aims of the Convention on
Biological Diversity and aspirations for landdegradation neutrality. Wetlands can provide
a unifying focus for actors in all these areas.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has been
seeking to build on this potential synergy
to develop commonly agreed and applied
indicators for the state of wetlands and theirwise use. Another unifying theme is the UN
declaration of 2021–2030 as the Decadeon Ecosystem Restoration. This global call tomobilise political will, science, technical knowhow and finance, is another opportunity toestablish and mobilise restoration targets forwetlands.
The Nationally Determined Contributions(NDCs) required by the Paris Agreement on

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climate change provide an opportunity forcountries with peatlands, mangroves andother carbon-rich wetland ecosystems to plan
projects to protect and restore them as part oftheir contributions to limiting climate change.
We can provide technical expertise to achieve
climate action through wetland restoration andconservation programmes.

This has gone beyond a box-ticking exercise
for companies and has become a process bywhich they learn the benefits and value of theecosystem services they ultimately depend
upon. Increasingly there are drivers to create a“race to the top” on environmental standards,
as international business-led coalitions emerge
to protect and restore biodiversity in highvalue natural ecosystems, including wetlands.

Considering their role in storing and regulatingwater and carbon across landscapes, wetlands
should rise up the agenda of companies whichseek to reduce their climate footprint and to
reduce water risks.
This confluence of national, private sector andintergovernmental interest is turning into a
global campaign for nations to frame economicplanning around green recovery strategies andplans. It has gained renewed focus as countries
think about kick-starting their economies after
the coronavirus crisis. There is much potential tointegrate the efforts of Green Deals and climate
action, while protecting natural resources andbiodiversity. This narrative offers a new chance
to highlight the need for urgent action for
wetlands. This offers opportunity to promotewetlands as part of a suite of nature-based
economic solutions.

And as the frequency and impact of waterrelated disasters rises, so does interest in
adopting nature-based infrastructure suchas restored mangroves or salt marshes as abuffer against the consequences. The Global
Commission on Adaptation, set up in 2018
by former UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon,
sees ecosystems as essential to successful
adaptation to climate change for hundreds ofmillions of people. Again we can help nations
integrate such approaches into their Paris
National Adaptation Plans and enhance climate
resilience.
Wetlands International joined the UN climate action summit in 2019 and made commitments
for action on nature-based solutions

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A GLOBAL NETWORKORGANISATION DEDICATEDTO WETLANDS
Wetlands International is a science-basedorganisation and partner of local communities,
governments and the private sector, withexpertise in managing water and wetlands
for people and nature. We are the leadinginternational non-profit organisation dedicatedto the conservation and restoration of wetlands.
Our earliest predecessor organisation was
founded in 1954 and many of our offices havea 30-40 year history of working in their country
or region. Since 1995, we have operated as a
global network organisation. Our offices arelegal entities that share the name and brand“Wetlands International”. They implement a
joint Strategic Intent and adhere to a common
set of organisational policies. Regional andnational priorities and national and local
partnerships and networks are decided by therespective offices and we carry our programme
development, advocacy and communications
through a collaborative approach.

Our vision is a world where wetlands aretreasured and nurtured for their beauty,
the life they support and the resources
they provide.
Our mission is to inspire and mobilise
society to safeguard and restore wetlands
for people and nature.
Our ambition for the period 2020-2030 is
to upscale action to safeguard and restore
wetlands, collaborating with multiple
partners and mobilising a wide range ofactors to transform whole landscapes andsectors.
We will do this by focusing on particularwetland landscapes, in basins and cities
where the values of wetlands for people
and nature coincide, and by connecting
local and global actions. In this way, we
will make a significant contribution toreverse the decline in biodiversity, build
resilient wetland communities and enable
equitable and sustainable development,
while helping people and nature to
mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Our global leadershipteam in the Pantanal,
Brazil in 201914

Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

We are working to safeguard and restore wetlands for thousands of endangered species, suchas the orangutan.

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PROPOSED GLOBALTARGETS FORWETLAND RECOVERY
Until now, the complexity and range of benefits
from wetlands, and the difficulties of analysing
and evaluating their status has precluded theadoption of agreed targets of the kind agreed forforests and some other major ecosystems. Butthat is changing. On World Wetlands Day 2020,
the International Organisation Partners of theRamsar Convention on Wetlands, who include
Wetlands International, proposed an emergency
recovery plan under which we and our partners
called for action to reverse the rapid worldwide
decline in freshwater biodiversity overall.
In terms of global conservation and restoration
targets – which we invite others to adopt anddrive towards – Wetlands International proposes
global, habitat-based targets, based on thebest available science, that reflect the scale ofchange needed to improve ecological and social
resilience. A fuller explanation of the basis ofthese targets and the key references are available
on our website. This will be kept updated as wework with others to improve and expand the setof targets.
By addressing these targets, actors will becontributing to achieve the Global Goals, 2030.
National and regional responses to such wetland
targets can be stimulated and guided by realtime information using integrated data sets, trend
analyses and standard accounting for wetland
habitats, such as provided by Global Mangrove
Watch (www.globalmangrovewatch.org).
We invite partners, wetland scientists and policy
makers to work with us to improve, refine andexpand this set of targets and to enable their
uptake and monitoring. And further, to scope anddevelop the wetland knowledge platforms which
can help enable effective implementation.

Peatlands
The remaining undrained
peatland carbon storesremain intact and 10 million
hectares of drained peatland
are restored, by 2030.

Locking up carbon in peatlands, as well as themaintenance and recovery of other values ofdrained and degraded peatlands, including
their roles in water storage and biodiversity
conservation, depends on keeping them wetor fully restoring them through re-wetting. The
on-going high greenhouse gas emissions due todrainage means that for peatlands to becomecarbon neutral in accordance with the Paris
Agreement, the remaining peatlands must be
conserved and around 50 million hectares need
to be rewetted to prevent carbon emissions, by2050. This is the total current area of drained
peatlands, taking into account that around 15
million ha of former peatlands is not restorable
as the peat has already been completely
oxidised (Greifswald Mire Centre, 2021).
Materialising large scale conservation andrestoration efforts to achieve this outcome
depends on peatland assessments, technicaland institutional capacities, as well as finance,
policies and social acceptance. Therefore, atarget of 10 million hectares is proposed as afeasible while still challenging target for 2030.

Peatlands surrounding the region of Moscow, Russia.

Mangroves
A net gain of 20% in global
mangrove cover, by 2030.

Mangroves are highly valued for their richbiodiversity, the nursery role they provide infisheries, their potential to store vast amountsof carbon (so-called blue carbon) making themcritical for climate regulation and mitigation,
as well as for protecting coasts from erosionand enabling communities to adapt to climatechange. Of an estimated original 33 million haof mangroves, half was lost, with an additional
15-20% severely degraded, by 2015. At thisrate of loss mangroves will disappear over the
next 100 years.
The target aims to address feasibility as wellas the need for large scale recovery to restore
ecosystem functionality. It takes into accountlikely positive changes in coastal zone policies
and practices as well as the permanent loss offormer mangrove land to aquaculture, farming
and urban development and limitations
imposed by climate change.

In Dayak, Indonesia, 40,000 people depend on wetlands
to grow rice, tap rubber and cultivate rattan.

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Wetlands for
migratory
waterbirds

Rivers andfloodplains
Remaining, free-flowing
rivers and floodplains remain
intact and river connectivity
is enhanced, restoring
floodplain ecosystem
functionality and area.

Riverine floodplains are very complex, dynamic
and diverse ecosystems. As producers of foodand regulators of water and carbon, their healthis of huge importance to freshwater biodiversity,
global climate and development agendas. Dams,
levees and other factors such as rapid spreadingof alien invasive species often severely disrupt
flow and sediment pulses. These affect river –floodplain interactions and can cause a cascadeof effects which have real consequences forbiodiversity, human livelihoods and societal
resilience to water shocks.
It was recently estimated (Grill et al,2019) that
only 37 % of rivers longer than 1,000 kilometres
remain free-flowing over their entire length and
23 % flow uninterrupted to the ocean. There aremany advances in understanding how climate,human interventions and floodplain dynamics
influence the natural functions of the ripariansystem, biodiversity and ecosystem services.
However, the development of a simple global
target to drive conservation and restoration
remains a challenge at the time of writing.

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Tidal flats of the Yellow Sea, China.

Tidal Flats
A net gain of 10% in area oftidal flats, by 2030.

Protection and restoration of tidal mudflats isvital and urgent to conserve globally threatened
biodiversity in light of sea level rise associatedwith current and future climate scenarios, aswell as coastal and inland human development
and associated changes in river discharge andsediment flows. It is estimated that 16% of tidal
flats have been lost over the last 3 decades(Murray et al, 2019). The target to restore 50%of the recent loss over the past three decades(1990 benchmark), means approximately a net
gain of 10%. This modest target recognises
the low feasibility of mudflat restoration, given
the increasing human development demands incoastal zones. The target is meant to imply not
only an area gain but also return to a state ofgood ecological functionality, to support the fullrange of ecosystem services. Within this, priority
should be given to protecting and restoring
critical sites for migratory shorebirds.

50% of the estimated 7000
critically important sites
identified along flyways
come under favourable
management, by 2030.

The conservation and recovery of the world’s
2,500 migratory and resident waterbird
populations along all major flyways requires
favourable management and restoration ofa connected network of an estimated 7,000
critically important wetland sites worldwide.
This depends on no net loss of already identified
critical sites and net gain through identificationand improved management of other criticalsites. The proposed target uses numbers ofcritical sites as a proxy for the adequacy ofsite networks needed by waterbirds at the
population level.
“Favourable management” is the terminology
adopted by the East Asian - Australasian Flyway
Partnership and while further work is neededto agree how to measure this, we consider it
to be a concept and approach to targets that
could be adopted globally. The proposed 50%
level of ‘favourable management’ is a balance
between ambition and reality. It takes into
account current and future climate scenariosthat are expected to affect spatial distribution
and availability of suitable habitats, with losses
in many regions (Breiner et al in development,
Nagy et al, in development). The intention
is to improve the target and monitoring by
introducing measures of network functionality
and connectivity in future.

Eurasian Spoonbills, in wetlands of the Netherlands.

Greifswald Mire Centre. (2021). Global Peatland Database.
Retrieved from Greifswald Mire Centre:
https://greifswaldmoor.de/global-peatland-database-en.html
Grill, G., Lehner, B., Thieme, M. et al. (2019). Mapping theworld’s free-flowing rivers. Nature 569, 215–221.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1111-9
Murray, N.J., Phinn, S.R., DeWitt, M. et al. (2019). The global
distribution and trajectory of tidal flats. Nature 565, 222–
225. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0805-8

REALISING CHANGE
FOR WETLANDS
We have identified five key ingredients needed to transform the state and statusof the world’s wetlands:

1. We need a society-wide response towetlands decline. This will require both“bottom-up” movements by civil society and“top-down” approaches by governments andthe private sector, as well as inter-sectoralcollaboration and novel partnerships. Lifestylechanges by consumers and strengthened civilsociety organisations can both push changing
attitudes inside governments and companies.
In response, governments must give higher
priority to wetlands as nature-based solutions
to economic, engineering, climatic and societal
problems. Meanwhile, companies that operate
in or affect wetlands must alter their businessmodels to give weight to non-financial results.
2. We need to integrate wetlands conservation
into thinking about wider landscapes.
Protected-area approaches to wetlands havelargely failed to conserve their biodiversity andecosystem services, because they treat wetlands
as isolated islands in the landscape. This
ignores their interconnections, particularly torivers. Recognising that most wetlands are onepart of a complex hydrological and ecologicalsystem is the key bringing their values to thefore and understanding the risks they face, andthe risks their degradation pose.

An egret in the swamp, at Lake Martin, Louisiana, USA

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3. We also need to integrate wetland
protection and recovery into wider agenda
for development and adaptation to climatechange. This means recognising the economic
value of wetlands and their ecosystemservices for people’s livelihoods and cultures,
as well as their roles as carbon sinks and in
reducing risks of disasters such as floods anddroughts. Conventional thinking still sees hardengineering as the main means of addressing
such climate risks. But often these prove illsuited to the task and expensive, compared to
the nature-based solutions offered by sustaining
and restoring wetlands.
4. Inclusive governance mechanisms that
underpin how rights and responsibilities
are shared are needed to enable functionallandscape solutions which provide multiple
benefits to stakeholders. Imbalanced power
relations contribute to conflicts over scarcewater and land resources and are increasinglya factor in contributing to over-exploitationof natural resources, wetland degradation,
human displacement and forced migration.
The hierarchy and tensions between different
user groups need to be overcome and inclusive
decision-making is needed to underpin
sustainable water management, improved
wetland management, social cohesion and foodsecurity.
5. An enabling institutional environment will
support natural resource governance and to
facilitate take-up of the innovative financeoptions becoming available. The nature of
the institutional environment will influence
whether different financing mechanisms are
possible; the extent to which property rights,
laws and regulations on ecosystem protection
are upheld; and whether powerful interests
prevail over those of more vulnerable wetland
resource managers. It is vital to establish which
combination of institutional and financial
environments is best suited to each situation.
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WHAT WE WILL CONTRIBUTE
Over 2020-2030 Wetlands International aims to safeguard and restore tens of
millions of hectares of wetlands, bringing multiple returns for nature and people.

By stepping up action to safeguard and restore
wetlands we will save nature, better captureand store water, improve food security throughsustaining agriculture and fisheries, keep
carbon in the ground, and safeguard cities andsettlements from the worst impacts of floods
and droughts.

BEFORE
Restoration of flood forest in Mali’s Inner Niger Delta – called “local banks” due to the value of theirproducts

To achieve this, we will use our extensive andlong-term knowledge and experience andwork with key players with shared goals andcomplementary capabilities to bring major
wetland landscapes into long-term recovery
programmes. This will involve addressing
levers of change from the local to global scales.
Through our own programmes, we will establish

and demonstrate the pathways for generating
and sustaining impact for people and natureacross whole landscapes.
And coupled with this, we will influence theactions and investments of others to multiply
our impact. By joining forces with partners,
we intend to elevate wetland solutions inpublic and private sector agendas and gain
the traction needed to bring wetland solutions
into economic recovery, climate action anddevelopment programmes globally. By working
in this way, it is possible to reach the tipping
points in wetland recovery that will make aworld of difference.

We combine global
and localised approaches:
By using our local presence, track record and partner networks in countries
and regions of the world to initiate, design and bring sustainable wetland
landscape recovery programmes to fruition, by accessing green finance.
By collaborating with governments and city authorities to provide technicalguidance on wetland nature-based solutions and establish multi-stakeholder
partnerships to support implementation;
By influencing the agendas of governments, companies and financeinstitutions to prioritise wetlands as a means to build a more resilient,
healthier society.

AFTER
Restored flood forest in Mali’s Inner Niger Delta

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OUR THEORYOF CHANGE

Our theory of change encapsulates the three main phases of our work: to inspire,
mobilise and upscale. These are the key ingredients of our organisational strategy
for the period 2020-2030. We summarise them here.

INSPIRE:To create societal demand for wetland action

UPSCALEMOBILISE

INSPIREINSPIREWe:- Share insights andknowledge- Encourage innovation- Inﬂuence agendas

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We aim to inspire by engaging both heartand minds. We bring attention to the criticalissues facing wetlands, as well as the levers forchange. We do this initially through ecologicalassessments, predictive models, scenario
development and trend analysis. We thenconvey these insights through storytelling, art,
education, experimentation and innovation. We
engage with partners and networks at local andglobal scales to inspire and influence public andprivate sector agendas, ultimately to address
the drivers of wetland loss and degradation,and encourage participation in initiatives tosafeguard and restore wetlands.
MOBILISE:
To enable action and create conditions for
upscaling

MOBILISEWe:- Enable dialogues- Build coalitions
around shared vision- Identify and pilot
landscape solutions

UPSCALEWe:- Design integrated
landscape scale plans- Transform policies andattract investments

We mobilise action through dialogue,
analysing different options for land and water
management. In this way, we build coalitions ofactors for implementing activities that reconcile
different uses of wetland natural resources
and integrate the values of healthy wetlands
into the local economy. Then we work withgovernments and others to integrate our ideas
into development plans. This is enhanced byestablishing training courses and communities
of practice to mainstream our ideas and provide
a sound platform for scaling up solutions infuture decision-making.

UPSCALE:To increase the scale of our impacts byenabling others to implement solutions
Upscaling involves replicating successful
outcomes and combining forces with partners
to head off damage and encourage positivechange at scale. Through strategic alliances,
we gain attention from a wider range ofactors to influence thinking and agendas,transform policies and attract finance. Throughencouraging enabling policies and regulations
alongside improved standards and behavioursof companies, we open up public and private
sector investment in wetland solutions acrosslandscapes and in cities.
We develop multi-stakeholder partnerships
to help shape and pursue ambitious wetland
visions across landscapes. In this, we encourage
local actors to be powerful agents for change.
For example, we support groups of villages
which face similar environmental challenges
to identify common priorities and advocate forinvestment via local and regional plans. We
connect landscape partnerships to financethrough investors who are committed to bring
multiple returns for people and nature.

- Improve standards
and behaviours ofcompanies

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OUR STRATEGICFRAMEWORK

Our strategic framework describes how we organise our work and measure our
performance. For 2020-2030, we are orientating our work to achieve three,interconnected global impacts: healthy wetlands, resilient wetland communities,
and reduced climate risks.
Our vision, targets and strategic interventions are shaped according to landscapes. We focus on
three broad categories of wetland landscapes: deltas and coasts, rivers and lakes, and peatlands.
“Streams” of work are defined according to the specific contexts of these wetland landscape types.
We measure our progress across these three streams according to the following six outcomes.

s
lta
e
d

&
ers
v
i
R

nds

ReducedClimate Risks

Wetland habitats andfunctions safeguarded
and restored: We aim
to help conserve aselection of the mostintact wetland ecosystems
and restore others within a fullrange of wetland types across theworld. We also aim to restore otherfreshwater systems, peatlands, deltas
and coastal ecosystems for theirintrinsic, cultural and ecosystemservice values. We will prioritise
ecological networks that connect
landscapes, such as flyways andswim-ways.

Water and foodsecured for wetlandcommunities: We
dsto prevent further
n
a
l
t
e aim
W
wetland loss andhyltdegradationthat undermines thenatural productivity and water storage
capacities of peatlands, floodplains,mangrove forests, deltas and lakes.
We aim to improve and diversify the
livelihoods of people dependent on
wetlands, and promote best practices
in agriculture and aquaculture,
integrating wetland values into the
local economy.

Wetland carbon storessecured and enhanced:
We aim to bringwetlands into activities
to adapt to and mitigate
climate change, which is otherwise athreat to the integrity of all wetlands.
Improving the condition of peatlands,
river systems and coastal ecosystems
such as mangroves, saltmarshes andsea-grass beds will also reduce theiremissions of greenhouse gases andreturn many to their role as carbon
sinks.

Res

s
lta
de
s&
st

s
and
atl
Pe

Rivers

&
l
a
kes

Co
a
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Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

nt

eAccording to our strategic framework, we work in three wetland landscape types to upscale solutions
and achieve six outcomes. In turn, these result in three impacts, Healthy Wetlands, Resilient
Communities and Reduced Climate Risks.

iliReducedClimate Risks

Wetland species
recovered: Building on
our long track record forwaterbird conservation,
we will contribute to theconservation of wetland biodiversity
by working on selected flagshipspecies and groups of species linked
to specific habitats.

ClimateRisks

ResilientCommunities

ResilientCommunities

ced
du
Re

Healthy
Wetlands

Healthy
Wetlands

He
a

Co
as
ts
&

lands for a healthie
t
e
w
rw
hy
or
t
l
a
ld
He
Peatlalakes

CoReduced societal
m m conflict andu nidisplacementti e sfrom wetlands:
We will in particularstrive to resolve situations where
deterioration of wetlands – caused
by upstream abstraction, climatechange or population growth -contributes to loss of livelihoods,
human displacement, conflict andmigration. Where necessary, we
will use peacebuilding and conflict
resolution measures to address
imbalanced power relations between
stakeholders, building capacity forvulnerable and marginalised people
to defend their rights to water andwetland resources.

Wetland nature-based
solutions integrated
into infrastructuredevelopments: We
aim to steer urban water
infrastructure investment and landuse planning towards using wetlands
to meet challenges such as water
insecurity and flooding that areconventionally addressed by civilengineering – an approach that oftencauses further loss and deteriorationof wetlands.

Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

27

INTRODUCINGSTREAM-SPECIFICSTRATEGIESIn the following sections, we set out the context, global values andkey challenges for safeguarding and recovering three broad types of
wetland landscapes: Coasts and Deltas, Rivers and Lakes and Peatlands.
We state a long-term goal and identify enablers for positive change
and set out targets for 2030 per Impact area – Healthy Wetlands,
Resilient Communities and Reduced Climate Risks. We describe themain kinds of interventions we will make to achieve these.
Voss, Norway, during Norwegian summer

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COASTSAND
DELTAS

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31

GlobalvaluesWetlands in deltas and along coasts, including
mangroves, salt marshes, seagrass beds andmudflats are rich and diverse habitats forwetland biodiversity. As connectors between
marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems
they serve as ecological corridors that provide
breeding grounds for fish and other marine
fauna, stopover sites for millions of migratory
birds, and hunting and grazing grounds forvisiting megafauna from sharks to tigers. They
store large amounts of carbon in biomass andsoils – typically more than equivalent areas ofrainforests – and by regulating flows of waterand sediment they contribute to building robustand diverse coastlines.

Mudskippers are typically found in the marine and brackish waters of mangrove swamps in India,
Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and parts of northern Indonesia. They are unique fish thatcan breathe air.

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Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

All this makes them important for humans
too. As fishing grounds, shelters and places
for aquaculture and recreation, they sustain
hundreds of millions of livelihoods, many ofthem directly dependent on wetland services.
Coastal wetlands provide vital protection fromstorms, floods and salt water intrusion and insome cases even sea level rise. With almost
a quarter of the world’s population locatedon lowlands within 100 kilometres of theocean, the risks that deterioration of coastal
ecosystems pose in an era of climate change are
increasing fast.

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33

Key
Challenges
Coastal wetlands are being invaded, fragmented
and degraded by economic developments suchas infrastructure projects, ill-advised coastal
protection schemes, sand mining, agriculture
and aquaculture. As well as damaging
ecosystems, such projects disturb sedimentand water flows, causing cascading effects
along hundreds of kilometres of coasts. A
piecemeal approach to countering such threats
is unlikely to work. But integrated planning at
the scale necessary is hard, when jurisdiction
in coastal and intertidal areas is often unclear,competing claims for land exist and capacities
for cross-sectoral collaboration are lacking.
Nonetheless, it is essential if we are to halt theslide to coastal insecurity and turn the tide
towards maintenance and restoration of wetland
resources.
Climate change, coupled with rising sea levels
and ocean acidification, pose increasing
challenges for coastal regions that include
flooding, coastal erosion and saline invasion ofunderground freshwater reserves. Meanwhile,
the ability of wetlands to maintain themselves
by migrating inland is often thwarted by coastal
defences and other infrastructure. Their further
decline will release their carbon into the air.
Such impacts remain insufficiently accounted
for in coastal planning. To safeguard and restore
coastal wetlands requires policymakers to fully
appreciate the values they offer and the risks
posed by their loss.

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Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

Enablers for change
Critical external enablers to address these issues over the coming decade
include:Inspire:- The establishment of global targets for restoration and enhanced
management of coastal resources, plus strategic partnerships forenhanced management of the marine environment, such as the Global
Mangrove Alliance noted above, can provide momentum for public-private
collaboration across sectors;
Mobilise:- Momentum built among development banks, government agencies andengineering firms to promote combined green-grey coastal engineering
approaches, in line with Building with Nature principles;- Increased recognition of coastal wetland values in climate policies andplans;
Upscale:- Increased interest amongst companies and government agencies to invest
in conserving and restoring coastal wetlands for their carbon values;Our Goal

Healthy
Wetlands
To safeguard and restore the most intact
coastal wetlands, which have high value forbiodiversity and ecosystem services, we will
focus our efforts on reducing pressures from
infrastructure development, resource overexploitation and conversion to other land uses
by incentivising ecosystem conservation andrestoration.
This includes a focus on conserving high value
mangrove landscapes and associated habitats
in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and theprotection and restoration of critical staging
areas for migratory water birds in heavily
developed areas (flyway bottlenecks) in Latin
America and Asia.

birds along heavily developed coastlines.
- Conserve selected coastal wetland sites forthe exceptional role they play as stop over sites
for migratory birds.
These interventions will help to safeguard
high-value coastal wetlands and critical wildlife
migration corridors, the active conservationof species of high conservation value and thelarge-scale restoration of mangroves and othercoastal wetlands.

We will enable conservation outcomes bymobilising government, community groups andother local stakeholders for joint management.
- Build out a Global Mangrove Watch platformthat provides real-time information on changes
in status, value and distribution of mangrove
ecosystems, provide a basis for integration ofmangroves into climate and development policy
and guide conservation and restoration practiceon the ground.

Our goal is to safeguard and restore
coastal wetland ecosystems as
essential features of resilient andproductive coastal landscapes. We
will achieve our goal by tailoring ourwork to the different contexts wetypically encounter in our target areas.
Sometimes all of these approaches may
be employed within different zones of
one large coastal landscape.

- Develop integral management programmes
for high conservation value mangrove sites
and associated habitats and connect these inregional programmes.
- Conserve and restore key sites for migratory

Little Egret
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Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

Mangrove underwater habitat

By 2030, we aim to safeguard 2 million
hectares of high value coastal wetlands,
including those sites which make up
vital wildlife migration corridors.

Resilient Wetland
Communities

ReducedClimate Risks

To integrate wetland values in the coastal
economy, we need to reconcile conservation
and restoration with production systems. To
do this, we will work in a range of productive
landscapes, where intact wetlands straddle
lands that are used for rice farming, cattle
grazing and aquaculture production. This will
be achieved through enabling management
plans across 5 major deltas and coastal zones
which ensure sustainable wetland use.

In degraded and heavily modified environments,
including urban areas, we will work withgovernments, knowledge institutions, private
sector partners and investors to enable the revivalof natural capital by integrating engineering
practices that combine nature-based andconventional hard infrastructure solutions tocoastal engineering challenges. We will upscale
our impact through strategic alliances whichenable sector-wide mainstreaming of “Building
with Nature” (see Box).

planning and by promoting certification andoperationalisation thereof;- Develop masterplans and sustainable
management guidelines ensuring enhanced
management of deltas.
These interventions will result in agriculture
and aquaculture practices that are more closelyaligned to the imperatives of ecosystemenhancement and climate resilience.

Harmonisation of different land uses will
be achieved by promoting adoption of sitemanagement practices that maximise benefits
from ecosystem services such as coastal
protection and water purification and minimise
environmental damage from agriculture
and aquaculture. We also aim to enhancesustainability across the supply chain of
agriculture and aquaculture products.

We will support the development andimplementation of blue carbon policies,
strategies and plans, leveraging substantial
investment for conservation and restoration ofmangroves and other blue carbon ecosystems.

- Support models for sustainable agriculture
and aquaculture production (shrimp, rice, cattle)
in wetland areas, through on-site management38

Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030- Mobilise large-scale initiatives that leverage blue
carbon finance to scale up the conservation andrestoration of high carbon coastal wetlands, withmultiple benefit outcomes.
These interventions will result in growing adoptionof and investments in nature-based solutions toclimate mitigation and adaptation and give a strong
boost to socially and environmentally inclusive
coastal zone development, while safeguarding andrestoring coastal wetlands.

We will:- Promote large-scale uptake of Building with
Nature across the water sector;

We will:- Mobilise large-scale landscaperestoration programmes, ensuring recovery
of environmental services and enhanced
productivity of agriculture and aquaculture
schemes;- Support sustainable production of wetlandcommodities produced in wetland areas (such as
artisanal fisheries, shellfish, honey, timber);carbon emissions, focusing on companies thathave a direct footprint in coastal and marine
environments;- Promote sustainable development of harbours
and other coastal infrastructure;

Tending oyster production in Saloum delta,
Senegal- Enable adoption of Building with Natureprinciples by development banks and branchorganisations from the engineering and marine
contracting sectors;- Integrate strategies for coastal wetland
conservation in the national climate action plans;

By 2030, we aim to integrate wetlands
into 8 million hectares of coastal
production systems.

- Collaborate with the private sector to help
them account for, avoid, minimise and compensate

Flood management plan, Panama City

By 2030, we aim to mainstream Building
with Nature and promote blue carbon
solutions, influencing €10 billion of
investments in coastal infrastructure
solutions.

Where we work in
Coasts and Deltas

We work in some of the most valuable andthreatened coasts and deltas around the world,
requiring urgent attention. The areas in blue
includes coastal wetland landscapes where wework for the long-term as well as those where
we have plans or ambition to work during thisdecade.

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How we make a difference

About Building
with Nature
Building with Nature is an engineering approachthat integrates ecosystem restoration andconservation measures with traditional civilengineering, in support of sustainable andclimate-resilient coastal development. Insteadof ‘fighting’ nature with dams and dikes, Building
with Nature works with nature. For example,
by allowing river flows and sea currents toreinforce sediment flow and accumulation asa means to protect coastlines. Or by restoring
ecosystems such as mangroves so that they can

42protect against extreme events such as storms
and high tides, while offering valuable ‘natural
capital’ in the form of shellfish, timber andrecreational opportunities. Building with Nature
solutions are adaptive, and typically cheaper toconstruct and maintain than static infrastructure.
The environmental co-benefits enable moreproductive land-use, especially when local
stakeholders are involved in their design,
construction and maintenance.

The Marker Wadden is an artificial archipelago under development in the Markermeer, a lake in the
Wetlands
International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030
Netherlands.

We haveinspired..

We havemobilised..

We have
upscaled..

the case for mangrove
restoration by using satellite
imagery to develop maps thattrack changes in mangrove
status and distribution. Ourdata is used by partners toprioritise restoration sites,
quantify carbon budgets
and identify threats fromconversion, erosion andpollution. This near-real-timemonitoring system enables
tracking of illegal mangrove
conversion, providing
timely information for law
enforcement. The data will
also enable us to evaluate andimprove restoration practice.

local community groups in
the Saloum delta of Senegal
to develop management
plans for their mangroves. In
return for their engagement,
we have provided investment
for new livelihood activities,
including beekeeping, smallscale farming and sustainablefisheries. Working withbusiness schools, we havealso helped the communities
to upscale these initiatives by
establishing savings groups
and accessing microfinance.

our work on Building with
Nature in Indonesia, following
an initiative for stabilising
coastal sediments toencouraging mangrove growthnear Semarang in Java. The
success of the technique for
improving coastal resilience
prompted the Indonesian
Ministry of Marine Affairs
and Fisheries is replicating it
across the country. We are now
working with the several other
Asian countries to spread thisapproach across the region.

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43

Realising
our ambition
through
big ideas
Partnerships andplatforms for change

Building with Nature Global
A global initiative that builds an enabling
environment for large-scale adoption of nature
based solutions, by demonstrating best practicesolutions on the ground, informing policies
and legislation and by promoting large-scale intangible propositions.

- We work closely with thefour other founding partners of
the Global Mangrove Alliance:
Conservation International, IUCN,The Nature Conservancy and WWF;as well as the broader membershipbase of the Alliance, including
the Red Cross movement, Wildlife
Conservation Society and the
Zoological Society of London;

Mangrove Capital
A global initiative that brings the values ofmangroves to the fore, and that supports
integration of mangrove conservation andrestoration in policies and plans for sustainable
development and climate mitigation andadaptation.

- We are actively exploring
landscape scale mangrove recovery
programmes with companies
Permian Global, Boskalis andGreenchoice, with whom we haveentered into partnership;

Global Mangrove Watch
A global initiative that supports development ofgeospatial data sets on mangroves that provide
real-time information about changes in theirhealth and distribution, that documents root
causes and captures their full range of values.
The data will be disseminated to policy makers
and practitioners through an online platform thatprovides for easy automated data assessment
based on artificial intelligence and cloudcomputing.

- We are an active partner of the
Ecoshape Building with Nature
Consortium, in which we collaborate
with water engineering companies,
knowledge institutes andgovernments.
- In countries, we work with dozens
of civil society organisations,academic bodies and government.

Field visit for Building with Nature partners from Asia to the Marker Wadden, Netherlands
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Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

RIVERSAND
LAKES

A boat on the Rupununi River in Guyana. The territory is a hydrological meeting place, where creeks
that flow south into the Amazon mingle with others that flow north to the Atlantic.
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GlobalvaluesRivers are freshwater arteries that connect andsustain diverse freshwater wetlands, including
lakes, inland deltas, swamps, marshes andthe rivers themselves. They host some of theworld’s most charismatic species, including
hippopotamuses, crocodiles, jaguars, beavers
and eels. Connecting land and sea, they alsoenable fish migration and facilitate waterbird
migrations, as well as storing and regulatingwater. They are a direct source of food and thebasis of livelihoods for hundreds of millions
of people, via fisheries, grazing lands, forestsand flood-based agriculture, and provision ofwater for domestic, agricultural and industrialuse. In many parts of the world, particularly arid
regions such as the Sahel, freshwater wetlands
are central to sustaining human health and wellbeing. Their conservation and sustainable use
maintains resilient water systems that underpin
peaceful and stable societies. Their loss, as aresult of ill-advised dams, irrigation schemes
and other development projects that abstract
their water or change flow regimes, disrupts
these relationships and can have disastrous
consequences.

The freshwater marshes of the Paraná Delta are widely used for cattle grazing.
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49

Dry season in the
Inner Niger Delta

Key
Challenges

Enablers for change
Critical external enablers to address these issues over the coming decade
include:Safeguarding and restoring healthy, resilient
freshwater ecosystems is key to meeting
global goals for food, water, energy, peace andclimate change. Most rivers are dammed andmany are cut off from their natural floodplains.
Only a third still flow freely. Some 30% of
freshwater wetlands have been diked anddrained to oblivion in half a century. Rivers
have dried up and fish migrations have ceased.
This fragmentation of the world’s freshwater
systems is a little-told ecological tragedy.
Freshwater biodiversity is in free fall, withpopulations down 80% since 1970. Thoseliving and using these wetlands are among themost marginalised in society and wetland loss isfurther reducing their resilience, compounding
tension, displacement and conflict.
Protection of freshwater ecosystems has
mostly failed because it has concentrated on
individual wetlands, while neglecting the water
systems that sustain them. Climate impacts

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Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

on water availability will exacerbate humanimpacts. Increasingly, the drive to reduce carbon
emissions is accelerating hard infrastructuredevelopment for flood defence and hydropower.
Perversely these actions risk further degrading
wetlands and impacting water availability for all.
Much of this has happened through ignorance.
So a major challenge is to raise awareness ofthe societal value of wetlands and freshwater
ecosystems. This will require championing thevoices of those communities who understandand depend directly on them, often over thoseof powerful water-using industries, such ashydropower, irrigated agriculture, shipping andmining. It will also require making the caseto investors, engineers and policymakers tomaintain wetlands and freer flowing rivers as
cost-effective solutions to problems such as
floods and droughts and as part of equitable
solutions to food and water security for climateaffected communities.

Inspire:- Increased attention and focus of environmental campaigns on water as
the ‘master variable’ linking biodiversity and climate change crises- Global policy frameworks and initiatives that explicitly set wetland targets
as part of wider development, climate change and restoration goals
such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Decade on Ecosystem
Restoration
Mobilise:- Strengthening and diversifying civil-society networks and alliances linking
freshwater wetlands with wider socio-economic development dialoguesof government, private sector and major investors- Multi-stakeholder participation in water governance and stewardship frombasin to wetland landscape scale
Upscale:- Increased commitment to invest in more responsible practices byagriculture, hydropower and extractive industry- Increased momentum and commitment from major corporate actors andindustry platforms to mobilise nature-based solutions at landscape scale,for example through water stewardship and carbon investment, as ameans to build resilience in watersheds.

Our Goal

Healthy
Wetlands
To safeguard and restore the ecologicalcharacter and hydrological connectivityof river and lake systems, we will focus on
reducing pressures and mitigating the impacts
from infrastructure development, wetland
over-exploitation, agricultural development,
hydropower and extractive industries andpromoting integrated management plans
which are compatible with maintaining
wetland ecosystem functioning and the life
cycles of wetland species.

Our Goal is to catalyse investment tosafeguard and restore rivers, lakes
and their accompanying wetlands, aspart of wider freshwater systems; andto provide water security for people
and nature, climate resilience, andsustainable and peaceful landscapes.

This will result in biodiversity and ecosystemservices being safeguarded and enhanced formany high-value river and lake systems.

- Enable innovation for scalable best practicewetland management and tools and approaches- Stimulate the uptake and adoption ofdecision support tools and environmental
flows that safeguard water regime for resilient
wetland ecosystem services

These will include the Sahelian floodplain
wetlands, Paraná-Paraguay and Ganges rivers
and wetlands, Great Lakes Region of the
Nile Basin, the high altitude wetlands of theAndes and Himalayas and freshwater rivers
and wetlands of the Mediterranean Basin.
Building on our track record and achievementsin these places we will seek to influence andenable global and regional socio-economic
development actors such as the regional
development banks and national governments
through their commitments to implementing
Agenda 2030 and NDCs.

- Enable uptake of integral management
solutions to conserve key river and lake species,
linked with decisions over habitat conservation
and restoration and water flows affecting
flyways and swimways- Influence major investors such as
development banks to align sustainable
development investment and related safeguards
to further integrated wetland and water
resilience

Water hyacinth in Paraná delta, Argentina.
Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030- Embed and advocate for improved
water resilience measures to be targeted ingovernment policy commitments

We will:- Communicate species and wetland
status trends and scenarios linking them tobiodiversity, policies, goals and targets

While the issues and pressures affecting
freshwater wetlands are regionally and globally
recognisable, they can only be solved locally,at the basin and ecosystem levels. We will
focus our work to upscale freshwater wetland
conservation and restoration in a series of riverand lake landscapes including some of the mostcharismatic and pressured wetland systems in
the world.

52- Support the formulation and implementationof master plans for sustainable development at
the basin or major wetland system scale

Giant Otters in the Pantanal, Brazil

By 2030, we aim to safeguard 10 million
hectares of high value river and lake
wetlands, focusing in five basins.

Resilient Wetland
Communities

ReducedClimate Risks

To enable stakeholders in river and lakelandscapes to sustain and improve their local
economy, we need to reconcile agriculture,grazing and fishery management withwetland conservation and the maintenanceor restoration of the natural water dynamics.
To do this, we will work within river and lakes
basins to enable inclusive and just governanceof water and wetland resources and promotemanagement practices which are harmonisedwith maintaining the resilience of the water
and wetland systems.

Climate change impacts in both urban and rural
settings and from high mountains to the coast,
are being felt through less predictable fresh
water availability and increased incidences ofdrought and flooding. We will seek to ensurethat freshwater wetlands are safeguarded andrestored to act as nature’s water regulators,
as a central strategy for addressing climate
adaptation, combatting land degradation andreducing disaster risks.

In so doing we will create sustainable wetland
economies that reinforce resilient, stable andsocio-economically vibrant communities.
We will:- Communicate knowledge-based analyses of
the relationship between human security andwetland condition, to inspire investment andaction that seeks to safeguard and restore riverand lake wetlands

and practice platforms- Participate in and enable coalitions that
reduce and resolve local conflicts over wetland
natural resources- Stimulate the development and financing
of sustainable socio-economic plans thatsafeguard and enhance wetland economies,
alongside wetland conservation and restoration,at the basin or landscape scaleThis will result in joined up resilience of society
and ecosystems, with wetland communities
profiting from improved and regained benefits
from wetlands and exerting greater control overtheir future management as part of wider socioeconomic development.

- Advocate for sustainable water resource andagricultural management practices in key policy

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Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

This will result in increased recognition ofand investment in safeguarding and restoring
freshwater wetlands as nature-based solutions toaccelerate climate adaptation in relation to water
risks, in both urban and rural environments.

We will:- Communicate the risks and opportunities thatclimate change and related adaptation measuresposes to river and lake wetland resilience- Promote Integrated Risk Management
approaches (see box) to tackle the root causes ofrising water risks across whole landscapes andbasins, building in wetland nature-based solutionsin climate adaptation and disaster risk reductionplans and investments- Influence the design of water infrastructure
schemes to help avoid maladaptive approaches
that lead to wetland degradation - and advocate forincorporation of wetland nature based solutions- Pilot local scale best practices for sustainableagricultural use of wetland natural resources- Strengthen the capacity of community groups
and their networks, to enhance the voices andagency of vulnerable wetland communities
in land and water governance and wetland
management- Bring attention to the role of river and lakesystems in regulating carbon stocks and emissions
and mobilise carbon financing for landscaperestoration at scale.

By 2030, we aim to safeguard andrestore 60 million hectares of wetlands
as integral elements of productive riverand lake landscapes.

- Promote a systems approach to reduce
urban water risks, enabling the design andimplementation of inter-connected networks ofnatural and semi-natural wetlands, that store andregulate freshwater flows and provide a range of
ecosystem services

By 2030, we aim that €500 million iscommitted to enable nature-based
solutions in freshwater wetlands, forclimate mitigation and adaptation.

Where we work inRivers and Lakes

We work in some of the most valuable andthreatened river and lake basins around theworld requiring urgent attention. The areasin green include basins where we work forthe long-term as well as those where we haveplans or ambition to work in this decade.

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57

Integrated Risk Managementin Mahanadi Delta, Odisha, India

How we make a difference

Wetlands International has worked in the global
alliance “Partners for Resilience” to apply an
Integrated Risk Management approach since2010. It involves awareness of the importanceof ecosystems and landscapes as buffers against
hazards like droughts or floods and as a source of
livelihoods, and combines this with communitybased disaster risk reduction and climate.

We haveinspired..

We havemobilised..

We have
upscaled..

a renewed focus on Sahelian
wetlands by demonstrating
their importance to peaceand security. Through our“Water Shocks: Wetlands andHuman Migration in the Sahel”
report, we demonstrated therelationship between wetland
degradation, water insecurity
and human displacement andconflict. Building on this andour work in Sahelian wetlands,
we have argued for restorative
action on wetlands to address
the root causes of instability
across the region. This has been
acknowledged by the G5 Sahelinter-governmental cooperation
framework and African Union,
leading to a commitment tointegrate wetland measures into
the Great Green Wall Initiative.

cattle ranchers in the Paraná
delta to explore, test andimplement better production
practices. By sharing ourknowledge on the role oflivestock intensification in the
degradation of wetlands, wehave initiated dialogues with
farmers and piloted changes toland management and stocking
practices. By developing alabel certifying this production
as wetland friendly, we havelaid the basis for large scalechange across the delta,
reducing fire risk and wetland
restoration, management andgovernance.

decades of successful workon wetland restoration,
management and governance
at Chilika lagoon and Loktaklake in India building anational scale programme toenable wetland management
to take account of risks
induced by climate change. We
also work as the knowledge
partner to Indian national andstate governments to support
the roll-out of “100 wetlands”
programme, a transformative
idea to rejuvenate wetlands tomake the country more water
secure. This includes designing
management interventions torecover floodplain wetlands ofthe Ganges.

The lives of millions of farmers and fishers livingin the Mahanadi delta are routinely threatenedby tropical cyclones and their livelihoods havebeen impacted by annual problems of water
scarcity. We discovered poor coordination of
resources provided by aid programmes. Our root
cause analysis highlighted that the operationof upstream dams and use of embankments
was interrupting natural flows and freshwater

58

flooding needed to nourish the delta. And theloss of coastal ecosystems had left the villages
more exposed to the impacts of more frequent
storms and cyclones.
Villagers were encouraged to join forces andtake local action for example to clear out ditches
and start using salt-tolerant crops. Capacity
strengthening and grouping of villagers whoshare the same risks in distinct zones of the delta,
enabled influence of policies and investments for
specific disaster reduction measures. As a result,
livelihoods were made more resilient by altereddam operation and wetlands were restored as
natural buffers to floods and to coastal erosion.
Crucially, thousands of lives were saved insubsequent cyclones as people were betterorganised to seek refuge in cyclone shelters.

The Mahanadi delta and Kosi-Gandak floodplains in India are home to 21 million people. We’re helping
Wetlands
International- Strategic Intent
2020-2030
vulnerable
communities
adapt
to climate change and bounce back from flooding.

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59

Realising
our ambition
through
big ideas
Corredor Azul
Is a major partnership programme to safeguard
the free flow and condition of three major
wetland systems (Pantanal, Ibera marshes andParaná Delta) and associated livelihoods along
the Paraguay-Paraná fluvial corridor which flows
from Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia down to La Platariver in Argentina. The choice of development
model over the next 10 years will seal the fate of
the region.

Partnerships andplatforms for change- We have established a core
partnership to drive forward thevision of “Blue Lifelines for a
Secure Sahel”, including CARE
Netherlands, International Alert andthe International Water Management
Institute. Alongside this alliance,
we collaborate with the African
Union Great Green Wall Initiativeand connect to many networks andpartners, including the civil society
networks and organisations ofPartners for Resilience.

The Blue Lifelines for a
Secure Sahel (BLiSS) initiative
Aims to build the resilience of poor andvulnerable rural communities of the Sahel in theface of growing water shocks and food insecurity,
by improving the status of wetland systems – theBlue Lifelines. By adding value to existing climatechange adaptation, land degradation and wider
development initiatives across the region, atleast 6 major wetland systems will be revived,
benefitting around 10 million people.

- We are an active partner in the
Global Resilience Partnership,connecting strongly on mobilisingsystems approaches and sharing bestpractice approaches to tackle waterand food security and the intersectwith human security

Rivers and Lakes Watch
We aim to build a global system, based on
geospatial data sets to express their full rangeof values whilst tracking root causes of riverand lake wetland degradation and loss. The
data will be disseminated to policy makers andpractitioners through an online platform thatprovides for easy automated data assessment
based on artificial intelligence and cloudcomputing.

- In each region, we work inclose collaboration with river
basin organisations, government
bodies, researchers and knowledgeorganisations.

Local communities talk about water stress along Ewaso Nyiro river, Kenya
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PEATLANDS

Bösenbechhofen, Höchstadt, Germany
62

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63

GlobalvaluesPeat forms where dead vegetation fails to rot,
usually because the ground is waterlogged.
Soggy peatlands make up about half of theworld’swetlands. They occur in all the world’s
regions from tropical rainforest to the Arctic.
Peatlands support specialised biodiversity fromthe insect-eating sundew plants in temperateregions to orangutans in the tropics. They
provide food and fuel for local communities.
Peat organic matter is the planet’s biggest
terrestrial carbon store, permanently locking
up carbon as long as it remains wet. All told,
peatlands still contain more than twice as muchcarbon as all the world’s forests. If managed wellthey can continue to sequester equally large
amounts from the atmosphere. They are often
important hydrological stores too. Their spongelike qualities mean they release water gradually,so reducing the risks downstream of both floods
and dry rivers.

The Cuvette Centrale swamp in Congo is one of the most carbon-rich tropical regions in the world
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65

Oilpam harvest
S. Gelam, Jambi

Key
Challenges

Enablers for change
Critical external enablers to address these issues over the coming decade
include:Peatlands face numerous threats. Drainage isthe biggest. Once drained, they offer large areasof thinly-populated land for timber plantations
and, in the tropics, palm oil. In mountainous
areas peat can be vulnerable to degradation
through over-grazing, for instance in Mongolia
and the Andes. Drainage causes land subsidence
and floods, while raised risks of fires in thedried peat. Around Moscow in 2010 and inIndonesia several times in recent years, suchfires have cause extensive smoke pollution
and the deaths of thousands of people from
respiratory ailments. The fires also result inlarge carbon emissions that typically are similar
to the industrial emissions from India, and could
accelerate with global warming. Making the casefor their protection can be hard in the face ofcompeting land demands. But it is at least as
important for the global climate as protecting
tropical rainforests.

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Some countries have begun this, includingIndonesia and China, which is restoring uplandpeat pastures by blocking drains. Turning such
local initiatives into a global crusade is a key
challenge. To meet global climate targets,drainage of tropical peatlands in particularneeds to be phased out urgently. Globally,
we propose a target of rewetting 50 million
hectares of peatlands worldwide by 2050
to staunch emissions and allow peatlands toresume their role as carbon sinks. If given thetechnical capacity and access to finance, local
communities can contribute significantly to thetask of managing and rehabilitating peatlands.
But long term success requires wetlands tobecome of value to local economies, including
though forms of wet peatland agriculture,otherwise known as paludiculture. Progress has
been made to identify and grow potential crops.
However, their wider economic viability remains
to be demonstrated.

Inspire:- The growing interest of climate activists in taking up peatland issues.
Sharing inspiring community success stories fuels growing interest
and action-readiness at grassroot level, especially where the actions areachievable for an individual and make a measurable difference- Increased interest in Citizen Science approaches that will extend our reachand penetrate new audience groups- Increased interest by government in peatland restoration as a naturebased solution to reverse land degradation, reduce drought and flood risks
and greenhouse gas emissions
Mobilise:- The Global Peatland Initiative – a platform with multi-sector partners which can champion and coordinate collective global and regional action
and attract global donors- Inclusion of peatlands as nature-based solutions in countries’ carbon
reduction commitments to secure long term and accountablecommitments for protection and restoration and opening up large-scalefinance- Increased company interest for the development and adoption ofvoluntary standards for products grown in wet peatland agriculture
Upscale:- The growing carbon financial market for the conservation and restorationof existing peat carbon stores

Our Goal

Healthy
Wetlands

Our Goal is to scale up the conservation
and restoration of peatlands asa contribution to biodiversity
conservation, climate change
mitigation and adaptation, andsustainable development. For this, it
is vital to ensure that all remaining
undrained peatlands stay intact, while
50 million hectares of drained peatland
are restored by 2050.

To safeguard peat-rich landscapes and theirbiodiversity, we will focus on improving
protection status, preventing damaging
practices and incentivising restoration andsustainable management.
This includes a focus on safeguarding thebiodiverse, mega-peat stores such as thosein the Arctic and Congo basins and enabling
integrated conservation and restoration
programmes in high value peatland landscapes,
including those remaining in Europe and Russia,
Indonesia, the high mountain wetlands of theAndes and Himalayas, the Nile Basin in Africa, La
Plata Basin and Patagonia in South America.

We will apply a three-pronged approach toachieve this goal. To prevent degradation we will
focus on enabling protection of the remaining
most intact peatlands in all regions. To reduce
degradation, we will reduce the impact ofpeat-based sectors through promotion ofregulation and new industry standards which
eliminate damaging practices such as drainage.
Alongside this we aim to incentivise alternative
wet agricultural crop production systems. To
restore peatlands, we will enable hydrologicaland ecological recovery at a landscape scale.
These three approaches are often all necessary
to combine within different zones on major
peatland landscapes. In all three approaches,
we aim to promote the best combination of
government control, community action andsustainable agri-business practice.

We will use our own knowledge andexperiences together with that of our partners
to demonstrate holistic landscape regeneration
approaches create the conditions for upscaling
peatland landscape recovery globally.
We will:- Communicate the urgency and businesscases for safeguarding the most intact
peatlands, including to protect biodiversity, lockup carbon, combat permafrost thawing and landdegradation, reduce water and fire hazards.
- Make peatland trends, our practicalexperiences, tools and knowledge available via
global and regional platforms, to guide policy
makers and practitioners.

In particular, we aim to achieve the following
targets and interventions in each of our three
Impact Areas: Healthy Wetlands, Resilient
Wetland Communities, Reduced Climate Risks.

68

Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030- Support the integration of peatlands into
national climate action plans, to unlock financefor conservation and restoration: prioritising
Europe, the Russian Federation and Indonesia
Crops like purun can make use of peatlands
without the need for draining. South Sumatra

which together are responsible for 70% of
global GHG emissions from drained peatlands.
- Work with intergovernmental agencies andfinance institutions to establish mechanisms
and mainstream methodologies and standards
that enable protection of peat sinks for carbon,
while safeguarding and enhancing biodiversity
and ecosystem services- Enable the development and financing ofa global pipeline of landscape scale, peatland
recovery programmes for multiple returns
These interventions should result in peatsmart public and private sector investmentsthat safeguard the ecological integrity andfunctionality of peatlands and their carbon
storage, while reducing the risk of floods andfires, and improving human health and natural
biodiversity.

Sphagnum moss

By 2030, we aim to safeguard over 20
million hectares of high value peatlands,
including bringing 5 major peatland
landscapes back into good ecologicalcondition.

Resilient Wetland
Communities

ReducedClimate Risks

To enable communities living in and aroundpeatlands to increase their resilience in theface of rising hazards (like fires and floods),
it is necessary to develop sustainable local
economies which are in harmony with andcontribute to peatland conservation andrestoration. We will do this by building theircapacity to establish and diversify livelihood
activities which are compatible with wet
peatland environments. By connecting local
community groups, creating an enabling policy
environment and applying innovative financemechanisms, we will incentivise and sustain
community-based peatland management
across whole landscapes.

To address the dominant impacts of agriculture
and forestry on peatlands, which drive
degradation and GHG emissions principally
through perpetuating drainage, we aim to
influence the industry standards and practices.
As well as ensuring avoidance of deep peat areasfor new plantations, we aim to reduce the peatdrainage in existing plantations and improve
restoration management after land comes outof production. By incentivising the development
and upscaling of commercially viable wet peat
agricultural production using native species, itwill be possible to speed up the withdrawal ofdrainage-based production systems.

We will stimulate upscaling of communitybased peatland management across multiple
landscapes by showcasing inspiring examples
of successful local economies in peatlands to
upscale finance, stimulating innovation andcross-learning of communities, filling knowledge
gaps and connecting with global learning
platforms to share knowledge, tools andexperiences.
We will:- Communicate the essential role that
communities can play in delivering sustainable
peatland management alongside ‘just’livelihoods- Build capacity of local and indigenous
peatland communities to increase theirtechnical capacity and access to knowledge andresources to manage their peatland landscapes
to reduce health and fire risks, while enhancing
livelihoods and natural values

70

Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030- Work with national and local governments
to embed and protect community tenure andenable a gender-inclusive tenure system- Enable coordination and complementarity
across government, company and communityled initiatives across whole peatland landscapes,
through multi-stakeholder processes- Promote and embed finance mechanisms thatenable upscaling of economically viable, peatsmart land-use by local communities, including
wet peat agriculture as a key component oflandscape regeneration
These interventions should enable communities
to restore natural peatlands, through morebiodiverse landscapes with increased livelihood
opportunities, reduced disaster risk andimproved adaptation to climate change.

To achieve this, we will work to enable thedesign, adoption and implementation of policies,
investments and practices for climate smart
peatland use through engagement with companies
and industry groups, bringing our technicalknowledge and experiences to the table.
Within landscape regeneration programmes, wewill facilitate national governments, companies
and communities to cooperate on reducing carbon
emissions and reverse biodiversity decline, as wellas to reduce risks to lives and livelihoods of fire,
droughts, floods and subsidence.

Harvesting purun, Indonesia

By 2030, we aim to enable communitybased conservation and restoration of 10
million hectares of peatlands.

We will:- Lobby and provide technical advice via industry
groups and platforms of extractive industries tointroduce principles and incentives that enable
the phasing out of drainage-based agriculture on
peatlands- Engage with infrastructure construction industry(windfarm,hydropower, mining and oil and gas) to
reduce drainage and GHG impact- Promote accountable adherence to peatland
protection policies through International FinanceInstitutions and governments- Pursue incentives to encourage wet peatland
agriculture, including encouraging commodity
markets to require accountable adherence tovoluntary peat-wise standards- Engage with stakeholders in peat-rich regions toestablish plans and apply finance mechanisms that
help to recover climate-proofed peat landscapes
These interventions should result in more powerfulpolicies and streamlined delivery mechanisms toscale up the adoption of climate smart activities inpeat rich landscapes, while achieving our targets on
eliminating drainage and scaling up restoration.

The wet Orshinsky Mokh near Moscow, Russia

By 2030, we will reduce the impactof peat based industries in 10 million
hectares of peatland, with a focus onpalm oil, pulp and timber.

Where we workin Peatlands

We work to safeguard and restore some of themost valuable and threatened peatlands in theworld.

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73

74

Wet peat agriculture

How we make a difference

Wet peat can produce a whole host of
economically viable products. Examples are sago
for food and fibre and sphagnum as packaging
and insulation material. Our joint work with
Greifswald Mire Centre seeks to select the rightcrop for the right local context, to enable asustainable local economy to develop alongside
an end to peatland degradation and theencouragement of widespread restoration.

We haveinspired..

We havemobilised..

We have
upscaled..

the Mongolian Government totake steps to include peatlandsin their NDC by mapping theextent of peatlands, visualising
the large contribution that they
make to the country’s carbon
emissions and supporting
development of a package ofmanagement interventions that
reduces these emissions.

action by communities
in Indonesian peatlands,
through small scale grants,
technical advice and capacity
development, to deliver
both sustainable peatland
management and livelihoods
opportunities. Combining thesegrants in a few communities,
has multiplied the benefits
and inspired neighbours. By
engaging communities in thisway, we have also opened up
the door for larger government
peatland restoration
investments.

peatland restoration in 100.000
hectares in the Moscow regionof Russia, where drainage
related peat-fires caused an
estimated 50,000 deaths.
We provided technical support
to the Russian government to
re-wet peatlands across 60,000
hectares, and improved fire
control and monitoring across
40.000 hectares. This reduced
emissions by an estimated320,000 metric tonnes of
CO2 per year. A further phasewill re-wet a further 75,000
hectares and bring 140.000 haof fire-risk control.

Jelutung, an indigenous peat swamp species that produces a natural latex, is being planted on abandoned
Wetlands
International
Intent 2020-2030
agriculturalland- Strategicin Central
Kalimantan, Indonesia.

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75

Realising
our ambition
through
big ideas

Partnerships andplatforms for change- We are a founding member andactive collaborator in the Global
Peatland Initiative.
- We are working closely with
Greifswald Mire Centre, combining
expertise and joining forces todevelop and drive forward a strategy
to make a global difference tosafeguard, restore, and sustainably
use peatlands.

European Peatland Recovery- We have a long-standing
relationship with the investment
firm Permian Global, with whom
we collaborate to protect andrecover tropical, carbon-richwetlands, including peatlands. We
will work with Commonland andthe Landscape Finance Lab to scale
up finance for peatland landscaperecovery, connecting with additional
investors.

We are working with landscape level partners,
governments and investment firms to enablelarge-scale peatland re-wetting and restoration in
Europe, for multiple returns.

Peat Watch
We aim to work with our partners to makepublicly accessible maps that monitor peatlands
and climate-related risks, such as greenhousegas emissions, fire, soil subsidence and flooding,to act as an early warning tool and facilitate theadoption, monitoring and reporting of mitigating
action. These data sets will be linked to the
Global Peatland Database, enabling policy
makers and practitioners to access informationneeded to address the root causes of peatland
degradation and to optimise management for thefull range of peatland values, through an online
platform.

- We actively engage in industry
round tables including the Round
Table for Sustainable Palm Oil andthe Responsibly Produced Peat
Foundation- In countries, we work withgovernments, knowledge
institutions and many civil society
organisations

Planning the rewetting of Russian peatlands
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FROM STRATEGYTO ACTION

Global to local
Our Strategic Intent is translated into action
through regional strategies for Europe, Africa,
Asia-Pacific and Latin America prepared by ourHeads of Office and by Stream Implementation
Plans for our three “streams”: coasts and delta,
rivers and lakes, and peatlands. Our “stream
teams” include staff from offices across theorganisation, who work together to set priorities
and collaborate on programme development,
partnerships, and knowledge sharing.
In this way, the Strategic Intent provides the
direction and framework for specific strategies,
plans and programmes led by our network offices.
The organisation’s collective achievements arereported in the network’s Annual Review and by
offices to their boards governing our various legal
entities across the world.
Together with partners
In all our work, whether raising awareness of thevalue of wetlands, in advocacy to governmentand business, or in implementing projects
with and for communities, we depend on
partners. Indeed, they are integral to the waythat Wetlands International operates. Investingin partners is a way to increase our reach andhelps ensure the credibility and sustainabilityof results. For example, at the programme level,
we commonly develop inter-sector partnerships

Mangrove Capital Africa team meeting in the Saloum delta, Senegal where drones are used to assist
monitoring

to pool expertise and co-design solutions forcomplex landscape challenges. We expect thebreadth of partnership to increase in the coming
decade. For instance, to stimulate public-private
partnerships, or to link up with knowledge
institutions.
Sharing our knowledge and experience
The experience and lessons we have gained inwetland landscape management and recovery
tends to be dispersed among projects, staff
and offices. We plan to bring together andpublish our track record and knowledge,
including methods, key concepts, decision
support tools, innovative finance mechanisms
and publications. We will place these in thecontext of wider knowledge and experience,with special focus on alignment and crossfertilisation with the Commonland/ LandscapeFinance Lab ‘4-returns’ methodology forlandscape restoration.
We will identify the best way to communicate
and make this knowledge accessible (e.g. aspolicy briefs, decision support systems, online
mapping analyses, or scenario analyses) so as toassist and catalyse the planning, conservation,
restoration and sustainable management of
wetland resources. We will assess the remaining
knowledge gaps and, for example, scope out thefeasibility and application of a “Global Wetland
Watch” online platform.

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79

Big idea development
1. Together with stakeholders we
articulate a vision that builds on
successful pilots and a track recordthat demonstrates the benefits of
new approaches.
2. We engage with partners togenerate programmes that represent‘building blocks’ over time towards
the vision. By encouraging local
and national institutions to playleadership roles in the design andimplementation of our programmes,
we build political buy-in and gain
momentum for our work.

Field visit in the Ndiael, Senegal

Our approach to programme development –‘Big Ideas’
Our work is driven by a long-term vision for
wetlands, and for a range of specific wetland
landscapes or regions. We design projects andprogrammes with upscaling of action towards
this vision. As it is rare that finance for achieving
such a vision will be secured up-front, we
adopt a building-block approach, starting witha smaller investments and evolve a financing
model that delivers progressively larger results
as more parties get involved.
We define Big Ideas (‘umbrella’ programmes)that articulate a specific vision and set out
action to inspire, motivate and drive forward

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Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

action at scale towards this goal, working closelywith partners. This is the essence of our theoryof change in action. Some of our Big Ideas relate
to particular wetland landscapes or regions.
Others -- for example concerning flyways
or peatlands -- may involve more than one
region and connect inland and coastal wetland
landscapes.

3. We invite donor partners to
support different elements, and todevelop projects in a coordinatedway, so they add value to others.
Through identifying “bankableprojects” and connecting to leading
companies, business platforms andfinance institutions, we open-up
opportunities to develop large-scalefinance.
4. Ultimately, the intention isthat these Big Ideas influence thepolicies, investment and practices ofpublic and private sectors, upscaling
and under-pinning our impact overthe long-term.

Strengthening our organisation
Wetlands International has a long history
and strong reputation as a knowledge-richorganisation which acts as a trusted advisor ofgovernments and companies and an enabler ofcommunity action, that enable wetlands to beconserved and restored, alongside benefitting
local livelihoods.
Our aim is to build on our track record andcapitalise on our existing programme portfolios
in wetland landscapes. These programmes
provide us with a sound platform in terms ofpolitical support, a substantive knowledge base,and extensive networks of partners.
Over the last ten years, Wetlands International
has grown significantly in terms of its turnover,reach and impact. We have started to work as
a global network organisation and expanded
our capability to develop and implement large
scale, multi-region programmes. We haveconnected science, policies and practices toenable innovations in wetland management,
steadily developed our partnerships, diversified
our donor base and increased our capacity forcommunications and advocacy. We now have an
impressive portfolio of such programmes andhave identified many prospects for upscaling
and multiplying these.

Big Ideas is an established way of working
within the organisation that we will use in
implementing this strategy. Big Ideas prioritisedby the network receive a majority of our efforts
in communications, fundraising, partnership andprogramme development.
The Pantanal is a substantial carbon store and public policies offer the opportunity to channelcarbon financing as a means to conserve the wetland alongside promoting sustainable land
management and business.

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81

Power of Wetlands campaign
aims to make the safeguarding
and restoration of wetlands a
global and national priority

We will work by leveraging the dynamics
between media, public attitudes and public
policy through engaging key influencers,
ambassadors and target groups such as youth,
as well as translating our knowledge into
innovative and creative leadership. This willserve as a basis for changing the behaviour ofgovernments and business, needed to address
climate change and the catastrophic loss of
biodiversity, while also underpinning ourfundraising for Big Ideas.

14
12
10
8
6
4
2

Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

AP 2020

2019

2018

Total
Global Oﬃce

This figure shows the development of network income over recent years. Up to 2016 network office(other than the global office) raised about 25% of Wetlands International’s total income. By 2019 thishad risen to about 40% and we plan that this percentage will rise to more than 50% in the coming 5
years as we invest in fundraising in other regions.”

Financing our ambition
We aim to double our rate of income growthto €25 million as a first step. Past experience
shows that if successful this would enable us,
through our programmes, to leverage otherfinance through alliances and public private
investments of five to ten times this amount. We
will also step up efforts to acquire core fundingthat supports the functioning and developmentof the Network.
Funding from OECD governments, foundations
and companies will remain a core focus for
fundraising. In parallel, we aim to develop
additional opportunities for funding in othercountries vital for wetlands such as India,
Indonesia or Brazil.

82

2017

0
2016

In the next five years we envisage changes toour ‘business model’ shifting away from a largely
project-driven organisation. Working this way
in the past has enabled us to create meaningful
impact for wetlands, and increase the scope of
our work geographically and thematically, butmore flexibility is required to move faster tomobilise and upscale our impact. We will work
together on this as a network, knowing that
individual offices will take different time periods
to adjust their operations.

16

2015

A sharper focus on communications andadvocacy as a delivery mechanism is needed
to realise our Big Ideas, strategic partnerships
and projects. We will be more visible throughbringing our stories, knowledge, experience andprogramme results to the fore. This will enable
us to connect our knowledge and experience
better with that of our strategic partners anduse this in our joint efforts to upscale wetland
solutions. We will use our knowledge products
to engage and influence key decision makers.

18

2014

In order to achieve our ambition, we needto transform the organisation. Our vision isa substantially stronger and larger networkorganisation, publicly known and able to raiseand spend funding of the order of tens of
millions. This change is needed to increase ourleveraging ability and consequently the impact
we can achieve in wetland landscapes.

TOTAL PROJECT INCOME NETWORK AND GLOBAL OFFICE (FOUNDATION)

2013

Influencing and communicating
To increase our impact, our main priorities are
increasing our visibility and influence, andalongside that, strengthening our fundraising
capacity.

MILLION EUROA shift for increased speed and scale
We have a clear ambition to transform
landscapes and sectors for connected global
impact for Healthy Wetlands, Resilient
Communities and Reduced Climate Risks

Responding to these opportunities requires
stronger cooperation between our offices, andthe development of more strategic allianceswith partners. We plan to achieve this throughprofessionalising our fundraising approachand staff to ensure we are well connected in
our work with partners and donors in different
regions. A strengthened team of fundraisersand communications staff, will work closelywith office directors, programme leaders andour technical team, who are highly skilled andclosely engaged in wetland conservation andrestoration, alongside partners and stakeholders.

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83

Building the right capacities
To realise the upscaling we have set out here,
we will develop our people across areas
including conceptualising Big Ideas andproject design, partnering and influencing,innovation and resource development tocomplement our core competences in wetland
science and management. This will be realised
through mentoring, peer-to-peer learning,interactive workshops and conventional training
programmes.
By combining our knowledge and experience
with that of our partners, we will establish asystematised approach to design, finance andimplement landscape recovery programmes,
in which the wetland aspects are integrated.
Through capacity development and training,
we will embed this standardised landscaperecovery methodology in the organisation.
Through our partnerships, we will encourageothers to follow suit.
Attracting and retaining the best people isfundamental to our ambitions. We aim to
be an employer of choice for environmentand development professionals, offering thechance to make a difference locally, nationallyand globally. We aim to be an attractive place
to work, with competitive conditions andprotection of employee rights.
A stronger network
Wetlands International is a global network
working in over 100 countries. Our offices
are set up to accelerate safeguarding andrestoring wetlands in the regions in which they
operate by taking action on the ground, andinfluencing and mobilising stakeholders anddecision makers. We will strengthen our offices’
influence, capacities and inter-relationships torealise our strategy, and the Global Office, basedin the Netherlands, will develop further as aservice centre for the network ensuring we work
together effectively for impact.

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Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

Network
Organisation
Chart

Our members – national governments andNGOs – support our goals and help provide
the mandate we need. The political support
and core funding that government and NGO
members provide is vital to delivering ourambitions. We will expand and rejuvenate ourmembership and increase and diversify our
supporter base, including through our legal
entities in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Our network of associated wetland experts act
as wetland champions and bring knowledge andexperience to the organisation. We work with
the IUCN and its specialist groups on specificwetlands species. We will continue to be
active members of these and other knowledge
networks on relevant topics, including
community resilience, disaster risk reduction,
nature-based solutions, and water, peace andsecurity.
Efficient operations
Wetlands International maintains offices in all
regions of the world, operating and collaboratingwith a common strategic purpose to global
standards, while maintaining decentralised
decision-making and local relevance. Our ‘global
board’ of office heads, along with the network
management team that reports to it, takestrategic decisions for the entire organisation.
They will continue to improve the network-wide
policies, tools and procedures to ensure efficientand collaborative working between offices.
Our principles and policies are operationalisedin each office in keeping with national
regulations and culture. But no office works
alone. Collaboration through online working
across teams will be at the heart of our
project delivery, sharing knowledge and ideas,building capacity and fostering the personal
relationships key to our success.

GOVERNANCE

National /Sub-Regional
BoardsSupervisory
Council &Board of Association

Membersof theAssociation

NetworkCEO
NETWORKEXECUTIVE
MANAGEMENT

Global Oﬃce
Management
Team

Global Board(of Heads of Office)Network
ManagementTeam

PROGRAMMEDEVELOPMENT &IMPLEMENTATION

NetworkOﬃces

Global Oﬃce
(services Network &Offices)

Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

85

Colophon

Copyright.
© 2020 Wetlands International

Editing
Jane Madgwick and Fred Pearce

Published by Wetlands International
P.O. Box 471
6700 AL Wageningen
The Netherlands

Production
Gina Lovett

Photo Credits.
Cover: L. Link, Unsplash
Back: Midhun George, Unsplash

46. Under licence, copyright, Alamy, as
featured in Water Lands,
Harper Collins 2020.
48. Gaston Fulquet, Wetlands International
52. Gaston Fulquet, Wetlands International
53. Wetlands International
54. Wetlands International
55. Wetlands International
58. Wetlands International
59. left: Getty Images
middle: Gaston Fulquet
right: Getty Images
60. Wetlands International
62. Simon Maage
64. Under licence, copyright, Greenpeace.
From the book Water Lands, Harper
Collins 2020.
67. Marcel Silivius, Wetlands International
68. Yani Saloh
70. CIFOR
71. Wetlands International
74. Wetlands International
75. left: Wetlands International
middle: Wetlands Internationalright: Wetlands International
76. Tatiana Minayeva
78. Wetlands International
80. Wetlands International
81. Gaston Fulquet, Wetlands International
86. Under licence. Copyright, Garcia Sabino/
Dennis Horgan as featured in Water Lands,
Harper Collins 2020.

2.

Under licence, copyright, National
Geographic. From the book Water Lands,
Harper Collins 2020.
5. Zhang Xiaohong, Wetlands International
7. Wetlands International Brazil
9. Wetlands International South Asia
12. Ibrahima Aboubacar Hama
13. Flickr, Creative Commons
14. Wetlands International
15. Pat Whelen, Unsplash
16. Yus Rusila Noor
17. Sander Carpaij, Wetlands International
18. Jan van de Kam
19. Rebecca Reurslag
20. Morgane Perraud
22. Wetlands International
28. Lene Jensen
32. Mathew Schwartz
36. E. Garzetta and S. Spasov
38. Wetlands International
39. One Archtitecture & Urbanism
42. Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V.
43. left: Global Mangrove Watch
middle: Under licence, copyright,
Yus Rusila Noor. From the book
Water Lands, Harper Collins 2020.
right: Yus Rusila Noor
44. Studio Dijkgraaf

86

Traditional dances such as this one on display in a school in Cuiabá in the Pantanal are being revived
as a means of keeping urban youth out of trouble.
Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

Design and layout
Gertie Vos - Poppyonto

Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030

87www.wetlands.org

88

Wetlands International - Strategic Intent 2020-2030